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Oil companies and banks drive trading

24th June 2010 Print

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Energy companies and banks continued to dominate trading this week as the FTSE100 rallied in the run-up to the Budget before sinking on Tuesday, dragged lower by oil giant BP and weaker commodity prices.

"Trading in BP (BP) returned to more regular levels in the week ended 22 June, though the company still accounted for over half (50.4%) of buy trades as TD Waterhouse customers snapped up the stock as prices fell to 13-year lows. Sells held steady in the week after the company said it reached agreement to create a $20 billion claims fund to meet its obligations from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The Budget failed to damp trading in bank stocks this week, with Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Barclays (BARC) accounting for almost half (49.6%) of sell trades ahead of Chancellor George Osborne's Budget announcement in which he announced a levy on lenders' balance sheets.

"Kea Petroleum (KEA) was a new entry to the top ten, becoming the second most-popular buy trade among our customers, and the fifth most-popular sell, after the AIM-listed oil junior found gas at its Beluga-1 well in New Zealand's Taranaki basin.

"Among other oil and gas explorers, Rockhopper Petroleum (RKH) dropped out of the top ten buys for the first time in several weeks while perennial favourite Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) held on to its position in the buy and sell lists ahead of its announcement on Wednesday about progress at the Shaikan-2 well.

"British Gas owner Centrica (CNA) moved into the top ten buys as the company's shares spiked on Friday amid speculation it could be takeover target for Russian gas giant Gazprom, while Tesco (TSCO) was another popular buy as market researcher Nielsen released a report showing that supermarket TV sales jumped in the lead up to the World Cup."